Metro Manila’s horrible gridlocks have put it at number one spot in the world’s worst even as they caused the President an embarrassing moment during the recent Coldplay concert at the Philippine Arena
Are we seeing an energized rail transportation sector?
Will this new-found vitality be sustained?
Or, would it eventually succumb to the “ningas-cogon” syndrome which government-conceived initiatives are prone to?
We hope recent developments in this sector would prove otherwise. After all, they have started to make waves and catch the public imagination.
If the rail transportation projects that have been thrust into the limelight by these developments do not materialize or are not finished on time, we fear they may result in another major public disappointment and, worse, loss of opportunities for faster progress in areas outside of Metro Manila.
There is reason to be optimistic. Indications are the country’s rail transportation sector is finally on the right track, pun intended.
For one, President Marcos Jr. himself has put the sector in the list of his administration’s priorities.
Just a few days ago, he directed Secretaries Jimmy Bautista and Ralph Recto to look for the money needed to start an over-a-century-old dream—a massive railway system for Mindanao.
Late last year, he also directed the Department of Transportation to make sure that the 147-kilometer North-South Commuter Rail project rolls off and is finished on schedule.
The NSCR had been the subject of many feasibility studies under several past administrations. They were shelved many times, almost consigned to the dustbin of failed dreams.
Not until today had both rail systems come this close to finally becoming reality. Will Marcos Jr. accomplish what all his predecessors failed to do?
We hope he and Secretary Bautista would succeed. After all, the NSCR has become a beacon of hope for the National Capital Region strangled by traffic woes.
Metro Manila’s horrible gridlocks have put it at number one spot in the world’s worst even as they caused the President an embarrassing moment during the recent Coldplay concert at the Philippine Arena.
The NSCR, however, is more than just a solution to traffic woes.
Like most rail transportation systems in the world, it will be an important component of the country’s bid to disperse progress into regions outside of Metro Manila without degrading air quality or harming the environment.
A 2022 World Bank study on “Railways in Developing Countries: a Global Review” said: “As a green mode of transportation, railways have an important role to play in decarbonizing transport through shifting them from more polluting modes such as road and air.”
“Railways can enable economic growth which, in turn, generates increasing transport demand while keeping greenhouse gas emissions low,” the study pointed out.
This is supported by the International Energy Agency, a Paris-based intergovernmental organization with 31 member-countries that provides policy input, data and analysis to the global energy sector. According to its director-general, “the rail sector can provide substantial benefits for the energy sector as well as for the environment.”
The contribution to environmental protection appears to be among the reasons for the readiness of the Asian Development Bank to provide significant funding for the NSCR project.
According to its vice-president for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Ahmed Saeed, “this project represents ADB’s biggest infrastructure investment and reflects our commitment to helping the Philippines attain its goals of reducing poverty, improving the lives of Filipinos and achieving green, resilient and high economic growth.”
The DOTr has awarded the contract for the assembly of some 56 rolling stocks for the seven express trains of the NSCR to two respected global companies: Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan and Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocariles of Spain.
This is a welcome development.
Both companies are known to develop and supply the world with rolling stocks and rail transportation management solutions that are eco-friendly.
With the strong resolve of the President and the readiness of Secretary Bautista’s rail transportation team, the odds are stacked in favor of the on-time completion of the NSCR and the eventual take-off of the Mindanao Railways project.
We just hope that the fulfillment of these long-time aspirations will not be hobbled by problems like the vast informal settler communities that have mushroomed along the sides of the railway alignment of the NSCR project.
DOTr Undersecretary Jeremy Regino has made sure that resettlement areas for the informal settlers who have to be removed from the project right-of-way are now available.
It is now a matter of the informal settler communities cooperating with the DOTr so that the project can proceed without further delay.
The NSCR is on the right track; we hope it will not be derailed. Again, pun intended.
(Email: ernhil@yahoo.com)
